Hollywood’s Hot Rod Bar and Grill: Infield Party

Proud NASCAR bar Hollywood’s Hot Rod Bar and Grill (10810 NE Sandy Blvd., 946-8242, hollywoods-hotrodbarandgrill.com)
belongs right where it is, on a strip of Sandy Boulevard that is
essentially a small-town speedway lined by sports bars and German
sausage, at the bow of two freeways. There’s a racecar displayed on the
roof, and no fewer than five life-size fiberglass racing chassis
replicas are hung high and low on the bar’s walls, from Richie Evans’
famed No. 61 to Junior’s old Budweiser car. Hollywood’s opens early on
Sundays when there’s a race showing, and a 7-ounce prime rib dinner is a
mere $5 after 4 pm on Sundays and Mondays. (You might have to do some
of your own trimming, but it’s a perfectly good $5 meal.) The
red-painted room is prettied up with bolted sheet aluminum in places,
and in front of the three pristine, red-felt pool tables are a pair of
plush vinyl couches facing the TVs, with a table in the middle for your
beer. Think of Hollywood’s as a basement den for people whose first gift
from their father was a toolbox. It’s the sort of place where everybody
knows everybody somehow, half the crowd looks like their other car is a
motorcycle, and grown men get a little misty when talking about solid
craftsmanship. When you lift your sleeve to show off your tattoo, it
better have flames coming out of it.